Temptation [ Min Yoongi | ENG ]

T W E N T Y F I V E

He took me to Den Bosch for his birthday, and I felt insecure about the fact that I was going to meet his parents.

All the parents of boyfriends I met were the parents of the boys I went to school with. After that, never again. And there was still the fact that we had not yet discussed our status. What would he say when he introduced me?

This conversation seemed forgotten in our dynamics. I never had to introduce him to anyone, or refer to him other than by his name. We knew we were partners, but we never gave each other the title of boyfriend and girlfriend.

Mr. and Mrs. Min were very different between themselves, which made it striking that Yoongi had similar looks to his father and mother at the same time. Her father was a thin, tall man, taller than the two of us by a few inches. His mother, on the contrary, was a short, round woman, her eyes were as sweet as Yoongi's and I realized that her smile was just like his.

We arrived just before lunch and were greeted with a very different warmth from what I was used to. There was a lot of cordiality in their ways, but at the same time I felt a respect that seemed to me to serve to keep me from any intimacy with our hosts.

His parents spoke a little broken Dutch, but that did not stop our conversation from happening smoothly, after all they have lived here for over 20 years.

I sat next to Yoongi when lunch was finally served.

"Roos-ssi I hope you like spicy food," Mrs. Min told me as she pushed one of the bowls towards me so I could help myself first.

"Yes, I do, thank you." I smiled in her direction, accepting the food that was offered to me.

"I beg your pardon, you are the first girl that our Yoongi brings home. I honestly don't quite know how to act." Her smile was sweet and uncertain.

"We didn't expect a Dutch girl either." His father decided to join the conversation.

I smiled in his direction as well, biting my bottom lip and completely unsure of my presence there. I ate while complimenting Ms. Min's skills, but avoided any further comments. Yoongi's behavior was not much different and after they sang happy birthday in Korean while I clapped and we ate a piece of the small cake where a candle had been placed, he started saying goodbye and I did the same.

Yoongi held my hand up to his car and opened the passenger door for me.

"I need a cigarette, I'm just going to drive to the city centre, okay?" He gave me a strained look.

"I thought we were going to stay here all weekend?"

"No, I want to spend my birthday in Maastricht, but it was a surprise for you." A smile danced on his lips as he parked the car again, without having driven more than 5 minutes.

"Ah! I never went to Maastricht! You really took me by surprise!"

I got out of the car and waited for him on the sidewalk while he came around the vehicle and found me there, already with a cigarette in his mouth and offering me his pack.

We smoked in silence, leaning against the car. He walked to the wall in front of us and stubbed out his cigarette, returning to my side.

"Sorry for taking you to meet my parents."

"It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"I wanted to spend my birthday with you," he sighed "but we have that tradition too."

"I can't guarantee it will be any worse when you meet mine... not to mention you'll have to go through this twice, since they are divorced" I stubbed out my cigarette with my foot on the floor. "What do you want to do now? Let's get in the car. The beginning of March is as cold as February."

Although the distance between the two cities is not that great, it took us almost two hours to arrive in Maastricht, with Yoongi driving by alternative routes for me.

He clearly didn't want to talk about what happened at his parents' house and I understood what had happened. He didn't tell his parents that I was his girlfriend, even though I'm not, just to give me a label. But his parents didn't want me there as his girlfriend either, at least not explicitly. The girlfriend they want him to take to meet them must be Korean.

When we arrived in Maastricht the feeling was that we had spent the day in the car.